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Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario Missing In Libya

UPDATE: Four New York Times journalists missing in Libya since Tuesday were captured by forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and will be released Friday, his son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, told Christiane Amanpour in an ABC News interview. (story here)

The New York Times is reporting that 4 of their journalists are missing in Libya. Photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario along with Anthony Shadid, the Beirut bureau chief and Stephen Farrell, a reporter and videographer. Bill Keller, excutive editor of The Times says, “We have talked with officials of the Libyan government in Tripoli, and they tell us they are attempting to ascertain the whereabouts of our journalists.” You can read the story on the Media Decoder blog (here). On March 9th Tyler told the NYTimes Lens blog that he had witnessed the “thickest fighting in a single day that he has ever experienced, with the most firepower — coming and going.” That’s pretty serious coming from a man who covers conflict for a living. Hopefully they’re fine and unable to make contact temporarily and will be found soon.

Journalists, including New York Times photographers Tyler Hicks (right in glasses) and Lynsey Addario (far left), run for cover during a bombing run by Libyan government planes at a checkpoint near the oil refinery of Ras Lanuf on Friday, Mar. 11. Photo by Paul Conroy / Reuters

1. Why does the NYT have four people in one location?
2. Where do all the photos end up? One or two in a newspaper, and a few on some websites, can’t be even one percent of the images they’re creating.

I sure hope they come home safely. These are experienced journalists and I’m sure they know how to handle themselves in situations like these.

@dbltapp, aepoc – four people with different assignments in one location. a reporter, a videographer and two photographers. just because the photographers are in proximity to one another doesn’t mean they’ll yield the same images.

so what do you both like to take pictures of again? obviously not anything newsworthy.

deb

i am so worried about tyler and lynsey – i think they are amazing photographers – i always look for their work as it is honest, educational and brave! i certainly hope the USA government is involved in helping to locate them – they helped that blackwater pirate in pakistan … i also like the work of anthony s – i just hope that the 4 people are found NOW!!!!

Now I would be very worried. Subsequent to this APE post, the media reported late on the 18th, early on the 19th, that Libyan forces had said the four journalists would be released “later today”. However, before any follow-up news reports stating that they had, in fact, been freed, UN forces began preparing for, and then commencing, attacks on Libyan forces.

Since the last reports early yesterday that they were “to be” freed, there appears to be total radio-silence on the whereabouts or status of these reporters. The news media appears to have gone dark about these reporters, probably for good reason (negotiating the release of western reporters held in captivity while western and Arab coalition forces are bombing the captors is tricky, to say the least, and probably dangerous to play out in the public eye – I’m not intending to criticize or undermine the tactic here).

But that’s no reason for us to forget about them and assume it’s been resolved.